Hartree, a 48-hectare brownfield site in North East Cambridge, will become a sustainable, inclusive community, centered around the five-minute neighbourhood concept. 40 per cent of the site will be public space, including the 5-hectare Playline, a green link across the site. With 15 new neighbourhood parks, the £3 billion project will deliver approximately 5,600 homes for 11,500 people, addressing Cambridge’s housing needs.

 

Who is on the project? 

 

Kjellander Sjoberg

Pell Frischmann

LOLA

Useful Projects

ECF

Carter Jonas

Turner Townsend Aline

Bell Phillips

Brooks Architects

NOOMA Studio

5th Studio

Haworth Tompkins

Feilden Fowles

Lightwood Green

Planit IE

SAY

Applied Ecology

Apex

Greengage

Logika Group

Orion

Horare Lea

Stantec

Cushman & Wakefield

 

Describe the context of this project, its neighbourhood and people. 

 

Hartree is a 48-hectare brownfield site, owned by Cambridge City Council and Anglian Water, that lies at the heart of a proposed new urban quarter in North East Cambridge. It will become home to a new kind of sustainable, inclusive community, driven by the five-minute neighbourhood concept of being able to access essential day-to-day services within a five-minute walk and cycle from your front door, making it possible to live locally. This project represents a huge opportunity for Cambridge, a city which is steeped in culture, innovation and history, but is also highly unequal. There is a housing shortage, people are being priced out of the city, and there is a huge strain on resources and infrastructure. Hartree is an opportunity to create a new part of the city that will take the pressure off infrastructure and bring thousands of affordable, good quality homes to support Cambridge’s growth. Like the wider city, Hartree aims to be a synthesis of past and future, drawing inspiration from both Cambridge’s storied history and its position at the cutting edge of scientific and technological innovation. With the increasingly pressing climate emergency, and Cambridge’s water scarcity issues, sustainability is at the centre of the Hartree design. We are aiming to deliver thousands of carbon neutral homes and applying a new standard in water conservation to ensure that Hartree will deliver for people, city and planet.

 

Please describe your approach to this future place and its mix of uses. How will it function as a vibrant place? How does it knit into, and serve the needs of, the wider area?

 

The Hartree masterplan goes beyond conventional housing approaches to cater for all generations, with plans for family apartment blocks, co-housing, self-build, and specialist housing for later living. Three neighbourhoods are proposed within Hartree, with each having a civic space at their heart, to build a strong sense of community. Essential amenities including two new primary schools and three nurseries are proposed, as well as healthcare and sporting facilities, and community and faith buildings. Hartree’s mix of homes, education, cultural and community uses enable the new quarter to be more vibrant, sustainable and resilient. Hartree takes inspiration from European cities, and is designed by teams with direct experience of designing at greater density and living at height. This makes the proposed high street and district centre more viable, and supports the concept of a truly walkable ‘five-minute neighbourhood’. These proposals have been developed alongside Cambridge City Council and other key stakeholders with the aim of creating a vibrant community with everything needed for residents and visitors from the wider area.

 

What is the social and environmental impact of the project? For example, how will the carbon use and material impact of the development be mitigated? What is the sustainability strategy?

 

Hartree is an opportunity to create a new part of the city that will create genuine social and environmental value by providing over 20 hectares of open space, thousands of carbon neutral homes, and a significant net gain in biodiversity. Our People and Planet Sustainability Framework prioritises responding to water stress, reducing embodied impacts, and creating an affordable, inclusive and resilient development. Throughout the design sprints, the team held onto the vision to create a place with many benefits for the planet, including: Retaining tanks from the existing water treatment works to serve as stormwater attenuation and ecological feature; Smart rainwater harvesting which reduces embodied impacts to meet a target potable water consumption of 80 litres per person per day in homes; Achieving a biodiversity net gain of 20% and an urban greening factor of 0.4 on a dense urban site, demonstrating how dense developments can support ecological resilience. Resilient-driven design with microclimate modelling informing massing and orientation, taking account of future weather conditions. Adopting an Underground Refuse System as a sustainable waste management that reduces vehicle movements into the site and increases waste recycling rates amongst residents. Designing three compact and walkable 5-minute neighbourhoods with attractive streets and easily accessible services, green spaces and public transport. Creating mobility hubs with shared services and facilities such as bike shops to support a largely car-free development. Offering a range of tenure options and housing typologies with opportunities for alternative housing models to meet the needs of a wide range of residents.